YouTube film debuting at Sundance

One of the films being shown at the Sundance Film Festival, which begins tomorrow, is a documentary culled from YouTube footage.

“Life in a Day” was directed by Kevin Macdonald (he of “Last King of Scotland” fame) and produced by Ridley Scott (who made that little known movie “Alien.”)

Last year, YouTube invited would-be filmmakers to record a day in their life on July 24, 2010. It received more than 80,000 submissions — about 4,500 hours of footage — which Macdonald and a team of editors winnowed down to 1,125 clips and turned into “Life in a Day.” The filmmakers whose footage were chosen were given co-director credits.

The 90-minute documentary will be simultaneously shown at the film festival and online next Thursday at 5 pm.